BRANKO RADICEVIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: CHILDREN AND THEIR TEACHERS FROM ABROAD DELIGHTED BY BUJANOVAC

17. December 2019.

Bujanovac - The Branko Radicevic elementary school in Bujanovac received forty elementary students and their teachers from Spain, Poland, Romania and Turkey, with whom they will spend three days primarily socializing, but also developing creativity, learning languages and enriching their knowledge of other cultures. This will all be done as part of the "Motivation III - 21st Century Students" project, which was designed by the Bujanovac school teachers

Visitors from abroad were greeted with open arms and hearts and by the words of the headmaster, Nenad Tasic, who told them "it is sad to rejoice alone, so thank you for coming to our school today to share this joy with us".

By these words of welcome, work on a project approved by the European Union's Erasmus + program started, which, according to the project coordinator, Maja Antic Jovanov, a teacher of French at Bujanovac school, is a great recognition of the Branko Radicevic elementary school and an extraordinary opportunity for students. The goal is to build international recognition of the school and the teachers' intercultural skills, develop creative strategies, tackle multiculturalism in the classroom and increase the motivation of minority group students. The project involves senior grade students with a wide range of interests, creativity and affinity for foreign languages.

"The project involves the exchange of students and teachers between schools from partner countries. It will last a year and a half, and our aim is to exchange good practices and ideas, to strengthen language competences for both students and teachers, while all the workshops that we are going to hold will be for that purpose, "said Ms. Antic Jovanov, the teacher.

Six students and four teachers from each country will, in addition to the activities undertaken at the host school, also have a workshop on photography, self-confidence and child safety at the School of Animated Film (SAF) in Vranje, while the third day is planned for a stay at the winter center "Besna kobila".

There, everyone will work together to create a kind of brochure on the three-day visit, by which the first phase of the project and the hosting of the Bujanovac school ends.

What the hosts from Bujanovac are like is best shown by the words of Ivon Duda, a teacher from Poland, who also spoke about the prejudices with which they started their journey to Serbia.

"The children, and especially their parents, did not expect what we found here, and they are most pleasantly surprised. There were certain prejudices, but now I can freely say that the children are happy to be here. From our first contact with Serbia and Bujanovac, we have only experienced nice gestures, hospitality and attention. We feel it, and the kids say they feel at home here at your school. They told their parents that it was nice here and that the weather and people here were nice, too. From the teacher's point of view, I can say that our hosts have made every effort to organize things, everything is at the highest possible level and we can dedicate ourselves to working with children and establishing cooperation between us,” Duda said.

The guests were also welcomed by the Mayor of Bujanovac, Saip Kamberi, who received the teachers, who are participants in the project, and their host colleagues in his cabinet.

Socializing and working together will resume in April, when a reunion is planned in Romania.

Source: Bujanovac News, South Serbia News and Coordination Body